15 
EGGS XII. and XIII. (Sale number eleven.) 
Two eggs of the Great Auk, on April 24th, 1894. 
Sale catalogue No. 3971, in which the eggs are described as “Recently 
discovered.” 
Egg XII. - “ Lot 74. A REMARKABLY FINE EGG 
OF THE GREAT AUK. This egg, 
which is one of the very finest of its type, 
has been most carefully blown. It is 
slightly ^cracked, but the fracture is almost 
imperceptible. The colour and markings 
are so beautiful, that it must be seen to be 
appreciated.” 
Bought by Mr. Herbert Massey, of Ivy Lea. 
Didsbury, Cheshire, for £273 O O 
Egg XIII. - “Lot 75. A DITTO. This specimen is of 
an entirely different type, and almost 
unique in its markings. It is also 
somewhat damaged, but this is not 
noticeable when it is lying in a cabinet.” 
Purchased by Mr. Henry Munt, 
of 83 Kensington Gardens Square, London, for £183 15 O 
This egg was again put up for sale in these rooms on June 20tli, 
1900, when it fetched £189 —vide p. 23. 
These two eggs were the property of Mr, Wallace Hewett, who had 
bought them, a month previously, for a few shillings at an auction in 
Kent. 
The following interesting account of these newly-discovered eggs 
appeared in the “Ibis,” 1894, pp. 422-3, from the pen of Mr. Edward 
Bidwell:—“At the disposal by auction of the contents of the Little 
Hermitage, near Rochester, on the 14th March last [1894], one of the 
lots, which was described as ‘a collection of shells and fossils,’ was 
purchased for 36 shillings by Mr. Wallace Hewlett, of Newington, Kent, 
who previous to the sale, in looking at the fossils, had recognized an 
egg of the Great Auk lying amongst them. After the auction, upon 
obtaining possession of his purchase, he was surprised at finding a 
second egg of this bird at the bottom of the box. To make assurance 
doubly sure, Mr. Hewett took these tw r o eggs to the Natural History 
*When on a visit to Mr. Massey at Ivy Lea, in May, 1895, in order to inspect his 
fine collection of Eggs of British Birds, including three eggs of the Great Auk, 
I saw and examined this egg, the slight crack had been so carefully repaired 
that I failed to discover it. T. P. 
